Dan Muse quipped during the season that the NHL-wide trend of goaltender interference challenge success rates being down this year is just him "bringing down the average" with his own 0-9 record.
Jokes aside, though, Muse may have made a dent in those results, but he's not solely responsible for the league-wide success rate being down to roughly one-third this season.
I asked Gary Bettman on Monday -- is there an issue with the rule? Any problem at all?
"No," he told me. "The issue comes when people hope that a goal will either be confirmed or overturned. And in the final analysis, you shouldn't be challenging unless the call is clearly and conclusively wrong one way or the other. And sometimes, strategically, you'll make the call to support your goaltender. Sometimes you hope you'll get the results you want, but it's not goaltender interference."
Bettman said that the challenges so far in the playoffs have been "bang on."
"Sometimes what happens is -- and it's no knock on what the broadcasters do -- but sometimes the Situation Room has a view that isn't shown in real time, or sometimes not at all, and then we have to tweet it out. But the Situation Room does a good job. And you know, we went through an exercise a year ago at the general manager's meeting where, I think we showed 54 examples of what were 'controversial' coaches challenges, and the general managers as a group, on like 48 or 50 of them agreed the right call had been made overwhelmingly. And three or four where there was some disagreement, the room was pretty split. And so the rule of thumb should be, unless it's conclusively wrong, you shouldn't be challenging."
Bettman acknowledged the frustration surrounding some calls, but said the league "overwhelmingly" gets it right, adding, "There'll be a few calls where people will debate them and, depending on your interest in the game, you may have a different view."
THE ASYLUM
Bettman: No issues with goaltender interference
Dan Muse quipped during the season that the NHL-wide trend of goaltender interference challenge success rates being down this year is just him "bringing down the average" with his own 0-9 record.
Jokes aside, though, Muse may have made a dent in those results, but he's not solely responsible for the league-wide success rate being down to roughly one-third this season.
I asked Gary Bettman on Monday -- is there an issue with the rule? Any problem at all?
"No," he told me. "The issue comes when people hope that a goal will either be confirmed or overturned. And in the final analysis, you shouldn't be challenging unless the call is clearly and conclusively wrong one way or the other. And sometimes, strategically, you'll make the call to support your goaltender. Sometimes you hope you'll get the results you want, but it's not goaltender interference."
Bettman said that the challenges so far in the playoffs have been "bang on."
"Sometimes what happens is -- and it's no knock on what the broadcasters do -- but sometimes the Situation Room has a view that isn't shown in real time, or sometimes not at all, and then we have to tweet it out. But the Situation Room does a good job. And you know, we went through an exercise a year ago at the general manager's meeting where, I think we showed 54 examples of what were 'controversial' coaches challenges, and the general managers as a group, on like 48 or 50 of them agreed the right call had been made overwhelmingly. And three or four where there was some disagreement, the room was pretty split. And so the rule of thumb should be, unless it's conclusively wrong, you shouldn't be challenging."
Bettman acknowledged the frustration surrounding some calls, but said the league "overwhelmingly" gets it right, adding, "There'll be a few calls where people will debate them and, depending on your interest in the game, you may have a different view."
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